LGBT News Scientists say they can prove male homosexuality is linked to X-Chromosome

Only a matter of time before they can prove there are many genes responsible for us being born like us. My oldest is pursuing a Bachelors in Chemistry and she says this is a huge area of research now, they are even learning about it in their classes.

 

I'm not sure how I feel about this. I that this is great in the sense that there's actual scientific proof you're born gay. Although it does make me worry that crazy religious countries will start having people take a gay test and if they pass, they get killed.

 

Sooooooo... a gay man's gayness is determined (or "affected") by the genes contributed by Mom? *snickers* Oh, that is AWESOME. So much for nature vs nurture.

And yikes, a gay test? Scary thought.

 

A genetic component for homosexuality does not rule out environmental factors as a cause. I'm inclined to believe that their are a multitude of causes for homosexuality, and that nature and nurture have their own degrees of truth.

To give an example of this phenomena, I am genetically predisposed to violence. I am not a violent individual. This is because I was raised to believe that revenge is stupid and violent escalation accomplishes nothing. It's in my genes, but it doesn't mean that is who I am as a person. Likewise, I doubt having the "gay gene" is the only thing that causes homosexuality. Also, I am not at all suggesting that what your parents teach you is the only "nurture" component around. Too many gay people have virulently anti-gay parents for that to be the case. I'm sure the causes (most certainly multiple) are much more subtle than that.

 

Geek is right. I certainly hope they NEVER find a definitive cause for homosexuality or any sexual orientation. I have little doubt the religious right would suddenly do a 180 on abortion "under certain circumstances", and one of those circumstances would be having a gay fetus.

I can already read the press releases: "...we've struggled for a long time over this issue. However, we are now at a consensus, and as a result we've changed our position on abortion in specific circumstances. We believe that it is important to always consider the life and health of the mother, and as a result we no longer will oppose an abortion if the mother's life is endangered. We will also not oppose abortions in the cases of rape or incest. Finally, there was a lot of discussion on the final issue. Ultimately, we came to the decision that it wasn't only life that needed to be considered but the quality of that life. As a result, we're now allowing abortion in the cases of genetic abnormalities such as extreme mental disabilities and homosexuality."

One of our next efforts after marriage equality and ENDA should be to pressure LGBT supportive governments to ban fetal screening for sexual orientation as well as any attempt to modify sexual orientation in the womb. We should also push to have this done in the UN as well.

More important stuff from the article:

 

wow this is so stupid. its so idiodic that people think they can change our sexuality before we are born. we are who we are and we will never change. and thats that :/ btw i love science but this is just plain stupidity

 

You know it's a fence sitting for me

I love that science is closing in on proving that many cases of homosexuality ARE genetic. Maybe then people will stop pulling this 'choice' crap

But here's the two arguments I can see coming

And let's just make sure it's put out there...I am not saying these are GOOD arguments...just what I could see from fanatics

1. The science ain't good enough!

2. Well that proves it! It's still a disorder!

ugh

well I like it anyway

 

We have to remember though, that while if this genetic X chromosome is a contributing factor for if a male will like other males, it doesn't mean it's the only cause. Hormones in the womb I think are "in the lead" for the best explanation for homosexuality. And it could be a combo of nature...possibly nurture.

 

My only worries about this are if they find a genetic cause then someone somewhere will start working on a 'cure' and get a ton of money thrown at them by certain people and groups. The other one is with designer babies on the way what's stopping parents from screening a gay gene out? Hell what's stopping countries from revisiting eugenics when it comes to a gay gene?

 

This isn't the first time they've said this, i doubt this holds any weight.

 

yes, this.
The greatest victory for all the fascists and bigots out there would be to control genetics and prevent homosexuals being born. They'd have to debate on passing laws to prevent this, or they would get homosexuality counted as a mental disease so they have the right to destroy it before birth.

 

Interesting. But it doesn't explain female homosexuality. The fun thing is, it isn't 100% accurate, so they can't do a blood test. Let's see homophobes find a reason now. They still will, but it will be a test.

 

And there's my problem, it shouldn't be a debate in the first place, but we're still going to have a "reasoned" one because we're apparently just that dangerous.

 

Real life GATTACA huh?

 

This here is a stunning bit of science. Stay with me:

1) Males have XY chromosomes.
2) Females have XX chromosomes.
3) Male homosexuals are known to exist.
4) Female homosexuals are known to exist.

Therefore, homosexuality cannot depend on the Y chromosome at all since that would contradict empirical data.

 

That actually makes sense, given the fact that homosexuality is a very present gene on my mom's side of the family. Three out of seven of my grandmother's children, 3, maybe 4 or 5 of the grandchildren, I thought it was genetic back then as well.

 

Ehhhh I am not sure if I really believe this, I remember scientists also claiming that having certain finger lengths determined if you were gay or not (and also completely ignoring bi/pan/omnisexuality in all of this) and that still seems like complete bullshit to me. I think it's all in how your brain works personally, but all in all I don't think it's really necessary to try and find a scientific explanation to this, and I fear if they actually do find a definite reason it could be horribly abused by anti-gay nutballs as mentioned earlier.

 

From a chromosomal standpoint Pret Allez is correct.
The question now is it a recessive gene? A correlational study between gay men and gay women would be interesting. Punnet squares for the win.